Summertime……and the living is easy!
This time of year reminds me every single summer what it means to enjoy the outdoors and get outside during this special season. Â It’s hot here in the South, but that’s nothing new. We have to deal with that every single year, 95 degrees and high humidity, so as much as we like to complain about it, we suck it up and deal with it and add fans to our porches and lots of iced tea and lemonade to quench thirsts and stay hydrated.
This week, I’m joining a fun group of bloggers who also love outdoors and everything that means for this time of year. Â Summer simplified! Â I love that idea. Â Summer makes me want to slow down, relax more, read more books, go to the beach, and enjoy the lightening bugs on a hot summer evening. Â I plan to do a lot of more of that this summer.
So, come along with me and see where I love to spend time during these hot summer months.
I just couldn’t let this slip by without sharing with y’all! Â Two years ago my front yard was landscaped and planted with Southern Living Plants and now I’m SO enjoying the beauty of these Dear Delores hydrangeas. They are positively exploding this year!
Here’s the post I did 2 years ago on my front garden and where it all started. Â You won’t believe the difference when you click on that link!
Big soft blooms are covering all my hydrangeas this year, wrapping my front yard up in a beautiful bow.
There are masses of them woven through my front yard.
They meander around the circle and up the hill.
Both sides of my yard are a sea of explosive blue hydrangea blooms.
I Â know they won’t last too long, so had to document the pictures and share them. I’ll definitely be drying some hydrangeas this hear!
The gardenias have been gorgeous this year too and smell SO good coming in my front door with their delicious fragrance.
If you’ve been reading my blog for any time, you know that my back screened porch is probably my most favorite room in my house, even though it’s outdoors. Â I love to live outdoors during the summer months, even when it’s hot out here. Â I have a fan out there and as long as there is a breeze stirring I can stand it. Â I’ve spent much time on that settee reading a book.
And here’s what it looks like when dusk settles in. Â I added those lighted grapevine balls this year for some night light and they add a fun ambience. Â I got those a few years ago at Pier One, but you could probably find them elsewhere, I don’t see them on the website anymore.
Here is a strand of lighted grapevine balls from Target (affiliate link).
I enjoy having a screened porch so much and don’t know what I’d do without it.
I sit here at this table often with my computer and catch up on everything outside.
That oscillating fan really helps stir the air out here.
I keep plenty of plants going during the summer months in the windowsills.
The breezes blow those curtains all the time and I love having them out here too.
Here are similar curtains from Wayfair (affiliate link), which is where I found these.  All my brown faux wicker is from Big Lots.
Sitting on the porch is the best place to be during the summer.
I spend so much time out here and love it!
Plants are a big part of the porch and I have many of them. Â I made that beadboard wall art with scraps of beadboard and an old vintage frame a few years ago.
This old chippy aqua chair was passed on to me from my dad. It belonged to his dad and it has to be from the 1930’s. Â The original seat is long gone and they used to add cowhide when the original caning gave out. Â It makes a great plant holder.
Right outside the screened porch is the new patio that went in last year. Â I dearly love it too and plan to get a lot more use out of it this year. Â I’ll be adding a new umbrella soon to shield the seating area from the sun.
Those big white planters (from Wayfair) are still going strong and the plants are blooming too with color.
This is a great place to hang out after the sun moves over the house at 4 pm.
I’ve spent a few evenings out here with my honey watching the stars and listening to music when the sun goes down.
So, that’s my summer simplified. Â Summer on the porch or patio is some of my best times ever. Â It’s great to have pretty outdoor spaces to use during this time of year and I couldn’t be happier to be back on the porch again!
If you want to get really inspired by outdoor living, check out the rest of the bloggers on this tour with me. Â I know you’ll get all sorts of great ideas from them too!
Day 1
Driven By Decor
Garden Therapy
Empress of Dirt
Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Day 2
StoneGable
Duke Manor Farm
Savvy Southern Style
Southern Hospitality
Shabbyfufu
Day 3
In My Own Style
The Wood Grain Cottage
Maison de Pax
Love of Home
Setting For Four
My Soulful Home
Day 4
Debbiedoo’s
Craftberry Bush
At The Picket Fence
On Sutton Place
oh rhoda, i just wanna swing by to snip some pretty blooms and then have a seat on your outdoor patio area. it all looks lovely. i am so happy you are enjoying it.
Wow, your hydrangeas are so heavy they are on the ground. I have one large bush that is doing well this year, too after taking last year off. I have two small bushes out front that are blooming for the first time in three years. I know you enjoy that screen porch and yes, you definitely need to shade your outdoor area from our hot sun. Now, if we could just bring back the cooler temps we had and lower humidity!
Those hydrangeas are amazing and everything about this just speaks cozy southern to me! Fun partying with you today 🙂
Love your summer spaces…..just wondering what do you do about mosquitoes while you are in your backyard? I live in middle GA so I know this is a problem. 😉
Hi, Kathy, I’m working on trying some products to combat mosquitoes. They are definitely a problem. I have a couple of lanterns called Thermacell that I’ve used before so I’m getting those out this year. They have worked pretty well for me in the past. I’ve also got a natural outdoor spray that is sprayed on foliage that I’m going to try too. That is supposed to keep them from multiplying and cuts down the population. If I find one that totally works, I’ll blog about it!
Rhoda…your hydrangeas are gorgeous!….You are truly living the life of wonderful southern living in the South both inside and out!
Thank you, Shirley! I’m so thankful everyday for my house and how far it’s come!
Everything looks lovely. Your porch looks so inviting,cozy but roomy. Would you share the dimensions? I am in the planning stages of adding one to my house.
Kathy, my porch is around 10 x 14′. Not too big, but big enough.
Love your screened porch! Every Southern house should have one 🙂
Thanks for sharing. It is lovely. I so wish I had a screened in porch. Next house for sure. I wanted to ask you if you’ve done something different with ads on you blog. I keep getting vertical ads in the middle of the page and there is no “x” on them to close it. It makes reading your blog difficult to say the least.
HI, Tammy, I have a couple of in content ads on my posts, but they are not supposed to cover up my posts. Are you reading on a desktop/laptop or phone? I can ask my ad guy about why they are intrusive.
Usually an iPad. It just started happening a couple of weeks ago where it is in the middle and I can’t exit out. Thanks!
Rhonda, your hydrangeas are amazing – I can’t believe that you only planted those two years ago! And a screened-in porch is on my dream home wish list – yours is beautiful!
Oh, a screened porch is high on my wish list!! We have mosquitos after about 3 pm daily so we don’t often get to enjoy our deck, sadly. I can’t even work in the garden in the late afternoons. I would certainly LIVE in a screened porch. Yours is lovely as are those hydrangeas!
Oh my goodness your hydrangeas are amazing! I would just sit and stare at them all day long!
What gorgeous hydrangeas! Love the gardenia too! Some day I will ad a porch on the back of my house so we can have dinners out there for the holidays. I picture a four season room with a gas fireplace to heat it at Thanksgiving and Christmas with a nice dining table. I have a nice big front porch that is open, but my house is small when it comes to having many people over and would like to have dinners and lounging out there. For now I will enjoy my front porch with my wicker rocker and my antique metal glider and an old church pew I have revived. Anyone with a porch is lucky 🙂 ! Great post, great porch. Have a great summer!
I love your hydrangeas! I would be picking bushels of bouquets if I had that many.
So what happened to your blog? Everything is out of proportion. The header is the same but all the content is squished down one narrow column to the side. I had to increase the basic font way out of proportion to read this.
Hi,Jen, I’ve had a couple of people tell me it looks off to them, but on my computers it looks fine. I’ll have to check it out and see what might be going on. I’ve checked on Safari, Chrome and Firefox and all looks normal to me. Are you reading on a laptop, tablet, or phone? I don’t know why some of you are seeing a squished blog.
I am on an I-pad, and earlier this afternoon, the vertical ad covered up the left side of the page, including the first few words of each line of text. It eventually went away.
By the way, love your home!
Hi, where did you purchase the vase for the hydrangeas? I love it!
HI Susan, that is from the old Southern Living collection, which then became Willow House and unfortunately neither of them are in business anymore. It’s a great vase/urn.
Oh those blue hydrangeas make me smile. I baby my two endless summer hydrangeas. When September arrives, I cut and dry their many blooms. This past Christmas, I placed the dried hydrangeas in my twinkling lit pencil Christmas tree and added multi blue bulbs. Beautiful. I would encourage you to try adding the dried hydrangeas to your tree. I have learned to keep my hydrangeas potted and placed in the garage over our harsh Ohio winters. If we lived in the south, I would definitely plant your hydrangeas all throughout our yard.
Rhoda your sea of blue hydrangeas look GORGEOUS! I’ve never seen so many and so beautifully planted! I think I would live all year long in your darling screened porch only to be chased into the air conditioning on those 95 degree + days. We have those here too. Lots of heat and humidity here in the piedmont. I love your southern charm and hospitality!
MY favorite flowers! I love it so beautiful Rhoda!!
Oh my gosh Rhoda…if I had those hydrangeas I would be in heaven. Truly they are the most amazing color of blue and there are so many! It’s all just perfect.
What a wonderful tour Rhoda!! Thank you for sharing with us!
Your hydrangeas are to die for! Everything looks spectacular Rhoda!